Nonlinguistic+Representations

 __**Nonlinguistic Representations **__ media type="youtube" key="LtLLGW9GP5k" height="315" width="420" align="center"

__**What is it and does it work? **__ We are all students - whether we are still in school or not - because life is all about constantly learning and storing information. There are two ways of learning: linguistic (words) and nonlinguistic (images). ("Nonlinguistic Representations," n.d.) In the classroom, we generally learn via linguistic methods: a teacher’s discussion or reading from our textbook. However, typically, when we recall something, we bring up pictures in our minds to think of that memory, word, number, or sound. To store information, it is common for our brains to create images – so why would we learn any differently? Instead of the old-fashioned method of learning, sticking strictly to teacher lectures and book reading, a student should be able to utilize the nonlinguistic form of learning in order to enhance the amount and type of knowledge stored. “The more students use both systems of representing knowledge, the better they are able to think about and recall what they have learned.” (Marzano, n.d.)

Below are key research findings taken from an article titled "Nonlinguistic Representations" from the website //Northwest Educational Technology Consortium//:

__**What are some strategies and examples of Nonlinguistic Representations? **__ Nonlinguistic Representations help students learn information in greater depth and make it easier to recall later. ("Marzano’s Instructional Strategies" n.d.) Below is the list of nonlinguistic strategies taken from //What Works In The Classroom// (Marzano, 2000):

The most common form of nonlinguistic representations most of us are used to is the **__Graphic Organizer__**. If you’ve ever had to write a short story in one of your elementary English classes or write a chapter outline from your history class, then you’re already familiar with this method. Graphic organizers can be:





Inspiration Software, Inc. is a program used in schools that assists students in creating these pattern organizers to create summaries and outlines, help with the thought process for writing, and much more. []

**__Pictures and Pictographs__** are great ways to teach concepts such as graphing, reading charts, and learning fractions (as just a few examples). Pictographs use “symbols or symbolic pictures to represent information.” (Marzano, 2000) Excel is a great program to use to create pictograms ([|Click here]to find a guide on how to create pictographs using excel). The video below shows how to incorporate pictographs to teach math skills, data calculation, problem solving, and how symbols are incorporated in our day to day activities. media type="youtube" key="ldDgqSL0HhE" height="315" width="420" align="center"

Similar to drawing pictures, **__Mental Pictures__** are especially important in learning a concept because it is one of the main ways we store the information in order to recall it later. The better mental image we make, the better we understand the concept just learned.

To give an example of using mental pictures, the following excerpt is taken from //Nonlinguistic Representations// (Marzano, n.d.): //The following example shows how a teacher might facilitate the construction of mental pictures in the context of a social studies class.//

//Mr. Williams's 5th grade class is beginning a unit on the history of Native American cultures in the southwest United States. To begin, Mr. Williams introduces his students to the strategy of creating mental pictures of information and ideas. He tells them to imagine that they are early European explorers who have stumbled on the abandoned cliff palace of Mesa Verde. He has them close their eyes and imagine they are traveling by horseback through the canyon lands. He has them “feel” the hot desert sunlight, “see” the scrubby vegetation, and “smell” the junipers and piñon pines.// //“Imagine,” Mr. Williams says, “that you suddenly see something in the distance that looks like an apartment building carved into a cliff. Would you be puzzled? Curious? Frightened? Now imagine that you gallop your horse to the edge of the cliff and peer across at the black and tan sandstone and yes, it is something like an apartment building. There are ladders, black hole windows, and circular pits, but no people. It's absolutely quiet. There's no sign of life. Would you wonder what happened to the people who lived there? What would you think about the builders of this mysterious structure? Would you be brave enough to go inside? What do you think you would find?” // Teachers will also use physical models to make **__Concrete Representations__**. “The very act of generating a concrete representation establishes an “image” of the knowledge in students' minds.” (Marzano, n.d.)

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">The following is an example taken from //Nonlinguistic Representations// (Marzano, n.d.) of a science teacher using concrete representations to teach about the solar system:

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Mrs. Allison helped her 4th grade class to understand why we see different phases of the moon by presenting a concrete representation of the moon's monthly journey around the earth and its relationship to the sun. For the moon, Mrs. Allison gave each student a white Styrofoam ball and had them stick it on the end of a pencil. For the sun, she used a lamp with the shade removed. She told her students each of them would be the earth.//

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Mrs. Allison placed the lamp in the middle of the room, pulled down the window shades, and turned off the lights. Then she had each student place the ball at arm's length between the bulb and their eyes, simulating a total solar eclipse, which, she explained, is quite rare. Because the moon usually passes above or below the sun as viewed from Earth, Mrs. Allison then had her students move their moon up or down a bit so that they were looking into the Sun. From this position the students could observe that all the sunlight was shining on the far side of the moon, opposite the side they were viewing, simulating a new moon.//

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Mrs. Allison guided her students to move their moons in such a way that they observed first a crescent moon, then a half moon, a full moon, and a three-quarter moon. At each point, Mrs. Allison pointed out that the sun was always illuminating half of the moon (except in the case of a lunar eclipse) and that the appearance of the these fractions of moon was due to the moon's changing position in relationship to the earth over the course of a month//.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Finally, **__Kinesthetic Activities__** use physical activity – physical movement – to elaborate on a concept learned. (Marzano, 2000) “When students use physical movement to role play processes or events, it generates a mental picture of the knowledge in the mind of the learner.” (//Marzano's Instructional Strategies//, n.d.)

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">This Youtube video is of a class using kinesthetic activity as a method for learning: media type="youtube" key="8zvuS4JLgW8" height="315" width="420" align="center"

__**<span style="color: #090963; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">How can a teacher implement this? **__ <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Based on the research-based strategies from the Northwest Educational Technology Consortium, below are the best ways to implement Nonlinguistic Representations when the students are not used to using them:
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Model use of new tools.**__ Activities that involve nonlinguistic representation may be new to students who are accustomed to learning through lectures and readings. Scaffold student learning as you introduce activities such as concept maps, idea webs, and computer simulations by modeling how to use tools that help them represent their thinking nonverbally. Gradually remove the scaffolds so students eventually work independently with the new tool or technology.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Use nonlinguistic modes in the content areas.**__ Math and science classrooms offer ideal settings for incorporating nonlinguistic learning experiences. Language arts classrooms provide natural connections from classifying words to modeling plotlines. Models, graphs, imagery, and other tools enable students to engage in actively constructing representations of their understanding.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Foster cooperative learning.**__ Encourage students to work in small teams when they are constructing nonlinguistic representations. Students' questions and discussions will help them communicate and refine their thinking.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Teach interpretation of nonlinguistic forms also.**__ Finding patterns helps students organize their ideas so that they can later recall and apply what they have learned. Teach students to represent and interpret information in graphs, charts, maps, and other formats that will help them see patterns and make connections.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Simulations offer new modes for learning.**__ Use simulation software or online simulations to let students practice making predictions and testing outcomes. Combine nonlinguistic experimentation with verbal discussion, which prompt students to think through their understanding and raise new questions.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Stimulate body-mind connections.**__ Kinesthetic learning is not just for primary grades. Older students continue to learn through physical activities. Incorporate dramatizations, dance, music, simulations, and other active learning experiences.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Integrate nonlinguistic forms into note-taking.**__ Encourage students to take notes that are meaningful to them. Model use of sketches, graphs, and symbols.